I was lucky enough to be told about this amazing ice tunnel this week so I got to go and see it with my own eyes. It’s a 70 metre long tunnel dug out of ice in Juvfonne (not a glacier, but a snowdrift we found after hours of discussion the night before we went) and the ‘interior design’ is inspired by Norse Mythology. Vey, very fascinating indeed.

We drove from Lom up to Juvasshytta (it’s a tollroad leading up there, but it’s well kept so don’t worry about your car at all) at 1850 metres above sea level (it seems I am looking for the coldest places in Norway to show my better half, this area has permafrost, so wear good shoes). It used to be a about a kilometre of walking on rocks to get to the entrance, but they are currently building a walkway to make the tunnel available for wheelchairs (I think, it seems they may be able to access the entrance, not sure how they would go inside the actual tunnel though, might be a little slippery), and it certainly makes the walk for walkers a little easier too, because all you need to do is strolling on a flat surface for five minutes, instead of balancing on slippery rocks for fifteen (uneducated guess). The actual entrance looks like a door into nothing, in the middle of an ice block. And it really look like there is nothing in there. But oh my, that’s how wrong you can be, right? The inside is amazing, like something you’ve never seen before.

The founder (I think!!), Dag Inge Bakke, has worked closely with light designers and interior architects to ensure the ice tunnel is one of it’s kind, with amazing light showing off the structures in the ice and how it’s been layered year after year after year for 6000 years. It almost looks like marble. No actually, it looks like marble, not even just almost. And the interior is inspired by Norse mythology, that’s where they got the name for the tunnel as well, Mímisbrunnr was the well of knowledge and wisdom. Inside the tunnel there is a tree cut out in the ice, representing the Yggdrasil and before you get that far you walk through Odin’s ring (the ring that inspired Tolkien as well, you know “my precious”?!). In the walls of the ice tunnel, replicas of findings in the ice (such as shoes and arrows) are placed in massive ice blocks and placed back in it’s natural environment (sort of). These are also lit up of course.

You’re walking on ice, between ice and under ice. You are 6000 years back in time and suddenly a movie theatre opens up in front of you. And last weekend there was a concert here with 50 people in the audience. Sitting close to keep each other warm. And listening to a band play inside a frigging ice tunnel. How cool is that?!!

The entrance…

My precious…

There is more information about Mímisbrunnr here and you can book a tour from here too. Go. Seriously!

While you’re up at Juvasshytta anyway, you might as well go for a hike up to the top of Norway’s tallest mountain too, Galdhøpiggen, at 2469 metres above sea level. It’s not only Norway’s tallest mountain, but also Scandinavia and Northern Europe. No, we didn’t go as we didn’t really plan for it (and I enjoyed the hike to Glittertinden so much I didn’t want to spoil it with another one the same week). At least you’ll be able to tick of your Something for that day!!

Yes, I know this is pretty much a travel blog these days, but there’s nothing wrong with that. Being active and eating well when travelling is quite hard at times and it’s good to have a reminder that’s it’s actually possible. I’m just in the car driving (not while I’m writing though) home from a lovely weekend in Trondheim, where enjoying each others company and good food and wine has been a high priority, but we also managed to go for an hour long walk in the pouring rain yesterday and a little walk through Trondheim City as well. And Friday afternoon I worked up a sweat running after a little three year old in the park, swinging her around and even going down the slide with her. Getting your heart rate up shouldn’t be something you’re dreading, it should be something you enjoy doing. It should be something you do, because you can. If you’re too lazy to run around in the park with your own (or your friend’s in my case) kids, you need to do something about it. It doesn’t need to be a marathon every day. It just need to be Something. Every Day. You know you will feel better for it!